Jared Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (15 page)

“So Caleb didn’t even try anything?” Jared sounded disbelieving, but it wasn’t much wonder to Easton because he didn’t think anyone knew the real Caleb. The eldest Morgan brother seemed to work overtime to develop a ruthless image when the truth was very different. Although, who would believe a man that massive was capable of amazing tenderness?

“He was very kind, and no, he didn’t try anything other than what I told you.”

“Sorry. I shouldn’t be suspicious. It’s just…Caleb.”

“He’s not attracted to men like me.” Easton yawned again and struggled to stay awake, but he didn’t think he was going to last too much longer. Sleep wasn’t casually tugging on him anymore. It was wrapping big hands around his head and pulling him under.

“What do you mean?” Jared’s voice sounded very far away.

“Caleb doesn’t like skinny men with no body hair.”

“So what does he like?”

“I think he likes McBride.”

“I’m not getting rid of Jonas, and I’m not letting you go, either.” McBride wasn’t about to let Caleb dictate to him. “This is my land, and what I say goes.”

“I’m not going to stay. If you let me go, then I won’t have to kill Jonas or sneak out when you’re not looking.” Caleb was no longer struggling in the restrictor, but it was clear that as soon as he got the chance, he was going to go.

“No. I want you here.”

Longing washed over Caleb’s features, but he quickly pushed it away. “I won’t stay if he’s here.”

“What if I made you my mate?” The words tumbled out unbidden, surprising McBride and clearly stunning Caleb.

For a moment, it looked as if he would agree to stay and make nice with Jonas so he could have McBride, but that look of singular determination slammed down over Caleb. He hardened his eyes, straightened his spine, and then shook his head.

“I’m not trading a chance with you for Ollie.”

“That’s not what I’m offering.”

“In a way, it is. However you want to look at it, I’m not going to be with you so that Jonas can have Ollie.”

“I’m not talking about a trade, Caleb.” McBride moved his chair closer so that while they spoke he could stroke his thumb over the scar on Caleb’s neck. “I’m talking about making you mine.”

Caleb closed his eyes and appeared to be struggling to stay unmoved, but he failed miserably when he squirmed in a bid to make more room in his shorts for his swelling cock.

“Isn’t that what you said you wanted all along?” McBride kept right on touching the scar, enjoying how valiantly Caleb tried to contain himself. “You said you wanted me no matter what we had to do to be together.”

“Not if I have to stand idly by and watch that pompous ass act like he loves you when he’s really fucking my brother.”

McBride wanted to explain again how things worked between Jonas and Ollie, but he knew it was pointless. Caleb wanted to believe what he wanted to believe, and nothing was going to change his mind. Talking from now until sundown wasn’t going to change a thing.

“So rather than stay and get the man that you said you wanted, you’ll go so you don’t have to see Ollie with Jonas? That won’t protect him and punishes you. Explain that to me.”

“Fine.” Caleb met McBride’s probing gaze. “If I stay here, and I get you, I can’t simply stand by and allow Jonas to keep on doing what he’s doing with my brother. He never should have touched him, and we both know it. If I go, I’ll be hurt, but at least I won’t have to watch those two.”

“Because a relationship like that between a landed gentryman and a slammer is wrong.” McBride moved closer still so that when Caleb spoke, he could feel his hot, moist breath against his face and neck. He had a sudden overwhelming urge to lay his head to the side and encourage Caleb to bite him. It was the notion of having Caleb bite him while he was bound that pushed all of McBride’s hot buttons.

“It’s not the same with us.” Caleb was darting his gaze from McBride’s mouth to his neck then up to his eyes.

“Why is that?” McBride moved closer and realized that both of them were whispering because they were so near to one another a louder voice was completely unnecessary.

“I’ve told you why. I’m not a man who likes repeating myself.” Caleb wasn’t able to move very far, but he managed to stretch his neck forward so that their lips almost touched.

As badly as McBride wanted to kiss him, he didn’t. It was one thing to restrain him to make feeding easier, but binding him so he could have his way with him just seemed inherently wrong.

“We’re equals. That’s what you said. But here you are, incapacitated and at my mercy.”

“Which you won’t take advantage of.” Caleb’s smile was smug.

Torn between a need to be righteous and not take advantage and a powerful urge to wipe Caleb’s assurance away, McBride rose. He looked down the length of his body and moved so that his cock—his very hard cock—was as close to Caleb’s mouth as he could get it.

“You and I both know you won’t.” Caleb now darted his attention from the bulge in McBride’s pants up to his eyes. “I’ve begged you to let me suck you off, so there’s no way you’re going to force me to do it.”

“Would I have to use force?” McBride grasped the top button on his waistband.

“No.”

“I’ve got you bound up and you’d willingly suck my cock?”

“You know I would.” Caleb licked his lips, and McBride swore he felt the gesture against the tender crown of his prick.

Ever so slowly, he eased down his zipper.

Caleb’s gaze was anticipatory, and he squirmed in the chair, trying to get closer to McBride, but McBride had used the straps of the restrictor to bind him to the chair. He didn’t want Caleb getting up while he was in the middle of using him.

That thought made McBride suddenly wake up to what he was doing. He didn’t want to use Caleb. He was a man and not some sex toy he could use to gain satisfaction from and then just walk away. This wasn’t at all the way he saw himself melding his body with Caleb’s. In his dreams, Caleb came to him unbound and willingly got to his knees. Caleb would lick, kiss, and stroke all over McBride’s body before he finally drew his cock into the hot hollow of his mouth. McBride didn’t have to force him because Caleb would wantonly do his bidding.

“Don’t stop now.” Caleb again struggled to move forward.

“No.” McBride turned away so fast he made himself dizzy. “This isn’t what I wanted at all.”

“What do you want?” Caleb’s voice was still a whisper, but the question seemed to fill McBride’s head and echo.

What
did
he want? He ran through the list in his mind, but almost everything he craved involved Caleb. Now that the world had changed, he thought he could have him. Their star-crossed love could end happily. But Caleb wouldn’t be his if Jonas was around. McBride couldn’t kick Jonas off his land. Well, he could, but he’d watch Ollie go with him, and that wasn’t right in McBride’s mind. He’d given the two men his word that they would always have a place here and he would keep them safe. Rescinding that promise just so he could have Caleb in his bed wasn’t right. No matter how much upheaval rocked the world, McBride had to be true to himself.

“I won’t send them away.”

“Then I can’t be with you.”

McBride turned, and when he looked at Caleb’s face, he realized this wasn’t easy for him, either. He wanted McBride as much as McBride wanted him, but they simply couldn’t let go of what stood between them.

“You know that I took Jonas as my companion only to protect him, right?”

“I know.”

“The kisses and lovers’ embraces were done only to ensure your brothers thought that we were truly dedicated.”

“I know.”

“The bonding in the master bedroom—”

“I know! I know! I sat here and watched with horror making my eyes so big they hurt because for the longest time I thought it
was
you!” Caleb seemed to suddenly realize he was screaming when there was no need. “Just feed from me, turn me loose, and go. I can’t bear to see Jonas anywhere near my brother, and I can’t handle seeing you when I know I had a chance that I threw away.”

McBride was at his side so fast he saw a slight breeze ruffle Caleb’s beautiful black hair. “Then don’t throw it away.”

Caleb met McBride’s gaze. “I have never lied about how much I want you. I would do almost anything to be with you, but I simply can’t stand aside and allow Jonas to continue with Ollie.”

“But don’t you see that I can’t let them go?”

“Yes, you can. I can do whatever it is that they are doing.”

“No, Caleb. You can’t.” McBride grabbed the chair and settled in. Having Caleb restrained made arguing much easier because Caleb couldn’t cut him off or distract him with soul-bending kisses or a well-placed caress. “You’re only one man.”

“I’m one man who can get a lot done.”

“And that’s why I won’t let you leave.”

“Then we have a problem.”

“If you’d just listen. Ollie cooks, and he’s amazing at it.”

“Cookbots work just as well.”

“Not when we no longer have the processed items they need.”

Caleb seemed to be considering that, because he didn’t automatically fling an answer at McBride.

“We can’t take the fresh food we grow and dump that into their hoppers. They won’t know what to make of it. Ollie knows how to put all that together. If you’ve never eaten his food, you don’t know what you’re missing.”

“Ollie is amazing, but I don’t see what Jonas brings to the table.”

“Well, for one, Jonas makes Ollie happy.”

“He’s confused.”

“He isn’t.” McBride suddenly felt exhausted when he’d only been up for a few hours. “Ollie loves Jonas. There’s no question of that in my mind.”

Caleb didn’t answer back, but it was still clear he gave no consideration to what McBride said.

“Jonas brings more than that, though. He’s good at organizing things.”

“Like parties.”

“I don’t know about that.” McBride strove to keep his voice even. “He’s got everyone working on getting the kitchen garden up to speed.”

“We have enough stores right now to last us years.”

“We do. But what if something happens?”

“Like what? The world falling apart? Oh, wait, that has happened.”

“What if something goes wrong with the food stores we have? Spoilage, infestation—all kinds of things can happen no matter how well you try to avoid them.” McBride moved a little closer and started up stroking Caleb’s scar again. He did it casually, because it was more about feeling his delicate skin atop the powerful muscles rather than deliberately trying to arouse him. “We need to learn how to grow food and how to store it. Jonas knows that.”

“How does he know?”

“I don’t know, but he does.”

“For all you know he could be growing a field full of poison.”

“I don’t think so, Caleb. And neither do you if you gave it half a thought. Why would he poison himself and the man he loves?”

“Stop saying that.”

“What? That Jonas loves Ollie and Ollie loves Jonas?”

“Yes.” Caleb gritted his teeth.

“You don’t want to hear it because you know it’s true.”

“It’s not.”

McBride sighed but continued to tease Caleb’s neck. He had to figure out a way to keep the peace between Jonas and Caleb. But he also had to find a way to make Caleb stay. Locking him up night and day wouldn’t really work because McBride needed Caleb to keep working on the machinery and doing the other hundred things he did on the farm.

“I don’t want to keep you against your will.”

“Great. Get me out of this thing and I’ll be on my way.”

“That’s just it.” McBride moved closer until his mouth was right above the scar. “I can’t let you leave, either.”

“Then we’ve got a big problem, because as soon as I can, I’ll kill Jonas.”

“Not if I feed you his blood.”

Caleb had been sitting still, but now he struggled violently. “You wouldn’t.” But he didn’t sound so certain.

“You really aren’t leaving me much of a choice.”

“To get your way, you’ll force me to bloodbond with a man I hate?”

“You’re not leaving me any other option. Even a mild bloodbond would stop you from harming him.” McBride pressed his hand to Caleb’s chest, keeping him pinned into the chair. “I don’t want you to go, and I don’t want you to kill him.” McBride’s mouth was watering now that he was close enough to smell Caleb’s unique scent. He extended his tongue and licked along the path he would bite. “Tell me what you’re going to do, Caleb.”

“Let me out of this thing.”

“No.” McBride slid his hand down until he was caressing Caleb’s cock through the taut fabric of his shorts. “I can’t let you go and I can’t let you kill Jonas, so what are we going to do?”

“Damn it, McBride, I won’t bloodbond to him!”

“I’m not asking you to.” Easing the buttons apart one by one, McBride slowly exposed Caleb’s prick. He was hot, hard, and so close to climax that he’d leaked all down the length of his shaft. McBride was able to work the palm of his hand up and down in the slickness. Each pass he made allowed him to gather more pre-cum so he could keep gliding his fist over Caleb’s cock.